RESPONSIBILITY MARKS

The reponsibility mark was the first mandatory precious metal products mark. Its history began in Finland in 1485, when the Swedish king issued a decree that the initials of the gold and silversmith be marked on their manufactured objects. In this way it was possible to ensure that the smiths do not made objects with low precious metal fineness.

Since 2001, all new registered responsibility marks have been a combinations of letters. Even though new symbol marks can no longer be registered, the old ones may be still used.

Responsibility Mark Search

RESPONSIBILITY MARK

LOCALITY MARK

Not finding your mark? Please read the instructions!

Mark Search Instructions

In the best scenario, the hallmark, responsibility, fineness, date and locality marks can be found by inspecting the product. All of these marks should be examined together in order to be fully confident of their interpretation. Sometimes, the marks may be worn out, badly stamped or upside-down.

Search criterion can be the responsibility or locality mark. If you cannot find the name of the responsibility mark holder, you should double-check all the responsibility marks for the specific locality. The reason for this is that there are still some unknown responsibility marks.

If the responsibility mark is a 'symbol' or 'signature', check the number or letter of your mark in 'Symbol Marks' or 'Signature Marks' pages. You can find them linked on this page and in the menu.

Old marks can often look similar, for example, I and J, C and G; you should consider this when searching.

You should also only search for letters - not dots, spaces or punctuation marks. For example, A:PIHRA is recorded in the form of APIHRA, C: G: N in the form of CGN and C.F. ELG in the form of CFELG. So, for all marks the letters are written together without punctuation and spaces. Only the characters /, &, and - are still relevant. For example, RSO/y, K&K or KK-KK.